Another deluge at the MCG halted an Australian surge built on aggressive batting, some slip shod bowling and aided by modern law making. Once again the rub of the green appeared to favour Australia, but Adam Gilchrist was skilled enough to capitalise on his good fortune and Ricky Ponting proved to be a worthwhile ally.Despite their wonderfully aggressive partnership, the Australians can thank Michael Slater for providing a solid foundation to the innings. Slater makes a habit of getting himself out in the nineties; when he hit a long hop from Venkatesh Prasad straight down the throat of Javagal Srinath it was the eighth time in his career the ebullient right-hander had fallen just short of the century.Naturally, Slater was disappointed and Prasad was unusually exuberant over this fortuitous dismissal and did a little celebratory jig right in front of the batsman. Quite rightly, umpire David Shepherd spoke to the bowler about his reaction, as Prasad performed the dance right near Slater and under thosecircumstances a batsman is likely to react violently.Shhepherd's prompt action had the desired effect. In the next over Prasad dismissed Steve Waugh with a good piece of bowling and then performed his celebration with his team-mates and well away from the batsman. Prasad's effort had dragged India back into the game and they should then have been on top when Anil Kumble appeared to catch Adam Gilchrist of his own bowling.It was a sharp chance, taken close to the ground and umpire Steve Davis' view of proceedings was blocked by the bowler, so he referred it to umpire Shepherd. The Englishman signalled for the third umpire and his verdict was too much doubt, batsman not out. I don't like catches being referred to an off-field official as the videotape replay is often inconclusive and wherever possible the decision should be made by the umpires on the field as they have the best feel for the situation.The adverse side affects of referring decisions to the third umpire are many; there is less trust amongplayers and the on-field umpires make fewer decisions. Ironically, the more decisions that are referred to the third umpire, the more you negate the use of an international arbiter as the video verdicts are always made by a local official. There is definitely a trend amongst batsmen to stand their ground on catches. This is understandable as the striker's chances of surviving are greatly enhanced if a close catch goes to videotape, whilst the opposite is the case in a run out.In the period after taking the second new ball, both Srinath and to a lesser extent Prasad, undid all their previous good work with some sloppy bowling. This is symptomatic of India's cricket at the moment; they play extremely well for a while and in doing so match wits with the best side in the world, but they can't maintain that level of play and that is when Australia jump all over their opponents.It would be a valid argument for India to say that the turning points in the first two games have revolved around doubtful decisionsthat have gone Australia's way. This would be true, but it can also be an excuse for failure and this is where India can learn from Australia. Steve Waugh's team are mentally strong and they have great belief in themselves, which often assists them in overcoming reversals. Sachin Tendulkar is an extremely competitive cricketer and if he can instil in to his team this mental toughness, to the point where they have more good periods and less sloppy ones, then he will improve his side reatly.
